Fall Lawn Care

Tidewater Gardens

August 27, 1989|By CHRIS SARGENT Columnist

Fescue lawns are easing out of summer dormancy now and deciding whether or not to alleviate homeowners' anxiety by greening up. Take the initiative now to improve your chances of having a beautiful lawn this season. What you use, how much you use and when you use it makes a tremendous difference in this annual game of "lawn roulette."

Fertilizers and pesticides, properly timed and used in the right amounts, contribute to that well-kept lawn most gardeners desire. But overuse, improper use, or poorly timed use of chemicals is a primary cause of urban pollution. Accurately identifying your problem, selecting the appropriate solution, then applying the technology or product correctly, is critical to preserving our environment. The following recommendations are a general guide to informed fescue lawn care in Tidewater.

SOIL SAMPLE. Always the first step for any successful gardening activity. Take a sample to your local Extension Service office for a free analysis which reveals soil pH and fertility levels. Results take several weeks, so do it now.

DETHATCH. This is rarely needed, but it may help ensure that seed reaches the soil if there is more than an inch or two of thatch in the lawn (thatch is a buildup of old grass clippings and undecomposed organic matter).

OVERSEEDING. Is best done September through mid-October, using 4 pounds of tall fescue seed per 1,000 square feet. When seeding new lawns, use 6 pounds of seed and up to two bales of clean straw as a light mulch per 1,000 square feet. It's better not to use annual ryegrass as a "living mulch" because it competes with the fescue for available water and soil nutrients.

LIME. Should be applied only per soil sample results, and is not needed annually. Limestone can be applied any time of year. The optimum pH for fescues is 6.5. If you haven't limed in three years, have not sampled soil recently and are too impatient to await the results of a test, 50 pounds of limestone per 1,000 square feet should not hurt anything.

FERTILIZER. Fall is the best time to feed fescue lawns. The kind and amount of fertilizer needed only can be accurately determined by soil testing. Fertile soils may require only a nitrogen supplement. Poor soils will need a complete fertilizer, such as 10-10-10. Soils naturally high in phosphorus need little or no phosphorus, as in 15-0-15 or 16-4-8 fertilizers.

Regardless of basic soil fertility, the amount of nitrogen applied must be strictly regulated. Not only can too much nitrogen burn the grass, but it leaches readily and becomes a major water pollutant. If you use a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer, apply up to 2 pounds of actual nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. If it is a readily available form of nitrogen, apply no more than 1 1/2 pounds of nitrogen.

If you use readily available nitrogen, follow the "SOD" program, and apply fertilizer in September, October and December. Using slowly available nitrogen permits you to make only two applications, one in mid-September, the second around the first of November. There's no rule against reducing the total fertilizer used annually by making only one application around the first of October. You spend less, work less, mow less and put less potential pollutants in the environment.

OTHER. Mowing height should be 2 1/2 to 3 inches, and never remove more than a third of the grass blade at one mowing. Water deeply every 7 to 10 days in the morning. It's an in-between time for weed control, wait until October to worry about this.

* Sargent is a Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension agent in Newport News. Anyone desiring further gardening information can call the service at 599-8899.